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Across the Sudanese desert, love and rivalry unfold in the shadow of rebellion.
In The Mahdi's Favorite, Emilio Salgari sets adventure and romance against a Sudan in turmoil. The Mahdi, a religious and military leader, leads a rebellion against foreign rule. Desert travel, love and war share the stage, while personal rivalries give the wider struggle an intimate edge. The stakes are personal as well as political.
Salgari tells the tale through short, lively scenes, quick changes of place and a strong sense of peril. Love and rivalry drive the action, while the rebellion shapes the choices people face. This is old-fashioned adventure that moves quickly, with colorful settings and tense chapter endings that keep you eager to turn the page.
What you’ll discover
- A desert in turmoil Enter a Sudanese setting where desert travel unfolds against rebellion and war.
- Love amid conflict Follow a romance that gives the adventure a personal source of tension.
- Rivalry with real heat Discover how personal rivalries help drive a tale already charged with danger.
- Faith and arms Explore a story shaped by the Mahdi's movement and the opposition it provokes.
- A restless pace Enjoy lively scenes and tense chapter endings that leave you wanting to read on.
Who will love it
Readers who love fast adventure, fierce rivalries and romance set against real history will feel at home here. Deserts, rivers and sword fights await you.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A dancer unsettles a promised marriage
- A rescue deepens the secret
- Jealousy turns friendship into a feud
- A hidden rival prepares his revenge
- Elenka turns love into punishment
- Another rescue brings another separation
- Omar makes loyalty a driving force
- Private passions meet a threatened army
- Love and revenge keep danger moving
Who’s who
- Abd-el-KerimAn Egyptian lieutenant engaged to Elenka who falls for Fathma and wants to keep her safe and win her as his wife.
- FathmaA proud almea and former favorite of the Mahdi who loves Abd-el-Kerim and wants to find him again at any cost.
- NotisA Greek lieutenant and Elenka's brother who burns with jealousy and hunger for revenge and wants Fathma for himself.
- ElenkaNotis's fiery sister, once engaged to Abd-el-Kerim, who is ready to destroy her rival to win him back.
- OmarAbd-el-Kerim's loyal slave, brave and quick-witted, who deserts the army to find and protect Fathma.
- Mohammed AhmedThe Mahdi, a rebel prophet who leads two hundred thousand warriors and cannot forget the woman who left him.
- Abu-el-NemrA rebel sheikh and lieutenant of the Mahdi whom Fathma heals and who then becomes her protector.
- O'DonovanAn Irish newspaper reporter with Hicks Pasha's army who helps Fathma search for Abd-el-Kerim.
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The Mahdi's Favorite
by Emilio Salgari · 1887
A dancer's eyes tear apart a lieutenant's engagement, and the Mahdi's desert war swallows them both.
Medium level5–10 hours to read20 languages
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In short
What would you risk for a single look? On an evening in September 1883, in a village on the White Nile, an Egyptian officer watches a dancer perform the bee dance and feels his engagement start to slip away.
The Mahdi's Favorite at a glance
- Reading time
- About 8 h6 h 20 min fast, 9 h 30 min slow
- Length
- 114,400 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1887by Emilio Salgari
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A dancer unsettles a promised marriage
The story opens on September 4, 1883, in Machmudiech, a village on the White Nile. Abd-el-Kerim, a tall and proud Egyptian officer, crosses the river looking for Notis, a Greek lieutenant. Notis is the brother of Elenka, and Abd-el-Kerim has promised to marry her. The two meet in a coffeehouse and talk of the war.
Then a young almea named Fathma walks in, and the three officers spring up in admiration. She performs the bee dance, and her great dark eyes keep turning toward Abd-el-Kerim. He stares as if turned to stone, then later clenches his hands against the angareb. When she holds out her hands, he gives her a handful of piastres.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1887
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 8 h 20 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Salgari, Emilio. The Mahdi's Favorite. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-mahdis-favorite.
Salgari, E. (2026). The Mahdi's favorite. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-mahdis-favorite (Original work published 1887)
Salgari, Emilio. The Mahdi's Favorite. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-mahdis-favorite.
@book{salgari2026mahdis,
author = {Salgari, Emilio},
title = {The Mahdi's Favorite},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-mahdis-favorite},
note = {First published 1887}
}
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What is The Mahdi's Favorite about?
It follows an Egyptian officer, Abd-el-Kerim, who breaks his engagement for a dancer named Fathma during the Sudan revolt of 1883. His rivals chase them across rivers and deserts while the Mahdi's rebels destroy an army.
Who is the Mahdi in the book?
He is Mohammed Ahmed, a religious leader who declared himself the Mahdi and led the rebellion against Egyptian rule in the Sudan. The novel shows him as a real historical figure and as a man who still loves Fathma.
Is The Mahdi's Favorite based on a true story?
The characters of the love story are invented, but the setting is real. The revolt of the Mahdi, the march of General Hicks and the battle of Kasghill in 1883 are history, which Salgari wrote about soon afterward.
The author
Emilio Salgari
1862–1911 · Italian adventure novelist
Emilio Salgari (1862–1911) was an Italian writer born in Verona. He wrote adventure novels and short stories, including series about the pirate Sandokan and the Black Corsair. His books appeared from the 1880s until his death. He later lived in Turin, where he died in 1911.
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